Neal Brown wants expectations for Jimmy Bell 'within reason'

Could West Virginia’s Jimmy Bell be a two-sport starting center? After anchoring the Mountaineer lineup as its primary big man in 2022-23, Bell is now trying his hand at college football, where he’s trying to stick as an offensive lineman this spring for Neal Brown’s group.

That’s right, the 6-foot-10, 270-pound WVU center linked up with the football team for spring practice shortly after the hoops season was over. Of course, this is not a random dive into the football waters for Bell. He did play in high school and was even profiled as a future college football player by recruiting services before ultimately deciding to go with basketball at the college level. Now, he’ll try to do both at once.

At his most recent media availability following spring practice, Brown discussed the Bell addition and complimented the Mountaineer hooper for being coachable throughout a very difficult transition. Brown went on for some time explaining all the in’s and out’s of Bell’s attempt to play football — so if you want to read every last word of what he sad to say, go ahead and read below:

Neal Brown on Jimmy Bell’s transition into football

“I’m trying to keep expectations within reason, right. So the things that Jimmy has that are natural. And I think there’s there is some crossover between what he’s asked to do in basketball and playing offensive line and playing some tight end. You know, pass pro, it’s not too much different than playing pick-and-roll defense. Our pass protection, you know, you got to keep a smaller guy in front of you, so there’s some crossover.

“Obviously, the biggest difference is we can use our hands in this game. Coach Moore, I’ve heard him say it multiple times this week: ‘Hey, you’re not fouling out! There ain’t no foul-outs in this game!’ So just him getting used to punching and the importance of ball get-off.

“What I do like about him: he’s extremely coachable and (Coach Huggins) said he was and he definitely is extremely coachable. He works hard, you know. I think he’s had an open mind on this and I went into it with with zero expectations. What I told him is: ‘Hey, let’s let’s teach you.’ He’s played football, so this isn’t like rolling out there and playing football for the first time. He’s played football. It hasn’t it’s been since 16 or 17. The last time he played, he played as a junior in high school was last year. He played, he got recruited some. Obviously, he was also about 60 pounds heavier. But when he went to prep school out in Arizona, they didn’t have football and he just played basketball.

“He’s been playing since, so he has some knowledge of playing the game but we went two weeks and just did fundamentals, you know. Just trying to get him and we did some cardio things. Then this week Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, he’s practiced and we’re going to do the same next Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and give us some time to regroup and and see if it’s something that we think can work or he thinks that he wants to make happen. And I just try to keep expectations in reason. It’s a really tough transition, but he’s he’s attacked it.”